Reporting from Houston -- The Lakers were still feeling the effects of a road game gone awry in Portland, Lamar Odom not exactly thrilled with his one-game suspension for leaving the bench during a scuffle with the Trail Blazers.

"Josh, get in the first group," Jackson said, and the momentum began to turn.

Powell responded to his first start of the season with a season-high 17 points on eight-for-14 shooting. He also had nine rebounds in almost 35 minutes of the Lakers' 102-96 victory over the Houston Rockets.

I said it a long time ago as well as everybody else...powell can play. We all knew what he could bring to the table and offer the lakers. Now all of our hopes were confirmed as we saw josh working with some decent playing time. He is the kind of strong and forceful hustle player that we can use in tough games